


reunion.

by satyrgod



Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-16 02:55:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16076894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/satyrgod/pseuds/satyrgod
Summary: Neku’s tired of just carrying on like things are normal. They’re not. It isn’t fair that Josh has left him hanging this long. Left them all hanging this long. He wants answers, so he decides enough is enough! He’s not going to wait around anymore.Grabbing his keys and locking the door behind him, he decides to take matters into his own hands and go to Joshua himself.





	reunion.

**Author's Note:**

> i've had a lot of trouble with writing something like this. as near and dear as i hold joshua to my heart, i wasn't sure how he and neku's reunion would go. in fact, i still am not! i have several wips of different versions of this same premise. maybe i'll post them someday too... but here's at least One way i can see their first meeting after the game going. hope you enjoy ^^
> 
> addendum: this is unbeta'd... i read it several times over so hopefully there's no mistakes?

They’d all been gathered in Neku’s room, doing homework, chatting about nothing in particular, as they often did when school was over.

Then, the subject of Joshua had come up yet again.

A topic that visibly put Neku on edge, but couldn’t be avoided forever. They _all_ had questions for Joshua.

“Why?” being most of them. There were specifics, certainly. Why did you shoot Neku? Why did you bring him back? Why did you bring _everyone_ back?

Why won’t you come _talk to anyone_?

“You guys know where he lives, don’t you?” Eri asked, pausing to steal one of Neku’s french fries. “Why don’t you go see him?”

The rest of the group stared at her, though, Neku was the only one who visibly tensed up.

“It’s just not that simple.” is all he offered, before turning his attention back to the sketch he was doing.

“Think there’s a wall, anyhow.” Beat said, scratching the back of his neck. “Doubt that guy’d let us in even if we did go all the way there.”

Eri tapped her chin, tilting her head to the side as she thought.

“And we can’t make him let us in?”

A loud laugh escaped Neku, but he didn’t look up from what he was working on.

“I don’t think you can _make_ Joshua do anything.”

“If anyone could make him come out, I think it would be Neku.” Shiki spoke up, pushing her homework away from her.

Neku twitched, but she continued anyway.

“I mean… None of us have a particular connection to him, right? If he wanted to talk to any of us, my first bet would be Neku.”

All eyes turned to him, and he sighed.

“If he has something he wants to talk about,” Neku says, pencil never ceasing, “He knows where to find me.”

The statement hangs in the air, and Shiki and Beat look at each other, understanding that statement was hardly directed to anyone currently present.

They part, shortly after that. Beat has his curfew, Shiki and Eri had a show they wanted to watch, so it was just Neku, alone in his apartment until god knows when.

He spent a few minutes trying to finish his piece. But the more he looked at it, the more it looked familiar.

The purple strokes reminded him of Josh. The flashes of orange reminded him of Josh’s cellphone. Even the white space he hadn’t filled out made him think of Joshua, of the time he had “sacrificed” himself for him.

The memories grow to be too much, and he sets down his pencil, burying his face in his hands.

It really isn’t fair. He should be able to move on now, with the new life that was oh-so-kindly given to him, but it’s difficult when he’d been given absolutely no closure to the 3 weeks of hell he had been put through.

He’s been waiting patiently. It’s been months. It’s been almost a _year_. But Joshua has yet to show his face. It’s not as if there’s been no sign of him, either. Neku’s noticed a lot of should-be coincidences that happen way too often to not have some sort of outside influence.

“You could at least come see me once.”

Why he continues to talk to the air, as if Joshua is actually going to care, is beyond him.

But he’s tired of just carrying on like things are normal. _They’re not._ It isn’t fair that Josh has left him hanging this long. Left them all hanging this long. He wants answers, so he decides enough is enough! He’s not going to wait around anymore.

Grabbing his keys and locking the door behind him, he decides to take matters into his own hands and go to the river himself.

Walking past Hachiko, where they all had met happily a few hours ago, he feels a chill run down him as he wonders if there’s a game going on right now. One he can’t see. What if Josh is busy? What if everything he’s doing is for nothing-- again, what if he’s just setting himself up for disappointment?

_You’ll never know if you don’t try_ , runs through his mind. He hears it in the voice of Mr. Hanekoma, even though he hasn’t seen him since the game either. _Live for the moment, Phones!_

He finishes his journey, standing at where he knows the wall for the river is. He’s still hesitant, but he reaches out a hand, and surely enough, something is blocking his entrance.

“... Josh.” he says, out loud, trying to avoid the embarrassment that burns at him. He’s in the RG! People can see him! Can’t Josh at least make this quick and painless?

“I know you’re in there. And I know you can hear me, if I’m this close.” He sucks in a breath, stepping closer, hand braced against the wall. “I just wanna talk. I don’t really think I’m asking that much from you. Can you let me in?” Silence resounds, and he leans his forehead against the wall. “Please.”

He stands there for a few minutes, and nothing happens. He draws back with a bitter sigh, about to turn around, when he feels… _something_ , shift in the air. He can’t place what it is, exactly, but when he outstretches his arm again, it goes past where the wall once was.

“... You want me to come to you.” He mutters, shoving his hands in his pockets as he makes his way into the sewer.

It’s nostalgic, but the memories associated with this place are hardly good. He comes to the bridge where he and Beat fought Konishi, and passes over it as quickly as he can.

It’s stupid, he thinks, that this hall can be so long but still feel so claustrophobic. Like he could suffocate.

Konishi never made it out of here. Minamimoto never made it out of here. The _Conductor_ never made it out of here.

What made him different from them? What made his _friends_ different?

He comes to the door of the Dead God’s Pad and takes a deep breath, steeling himself, trying to forget that his veins suddenly feel like there’s ice water running through them. He pushes open the door, and the place is empty. Neku reaches into his pocket, for a player pin that isn’t there, and realizes he can’t get any further.

Before any sort of emotion can set in, the back door to the place opens (Has that always been there?) and Joshua Kiryu himself emerges, a tray in his hands, holding 2 cups and a coffee pot.

“Neku,” he says, and he’s smiling, but even from a distance Neku can tell it’s not reaching his eyes. “I can’t say I was prepared for company.”

“I figured as much,” is all Neku can say, keeping up the farce that this was a normal meeting, between normal friends, for whatever reason. Truthfully, seeing Joshua in the flesh again, hearing him, is giving him an emotion he isn’t quite sure how to explain.

He’s happy, so happy, to finally be able to see him again. To catch up, to gain closure, to get his friend back! But there’s also a steady bubbling of resentment, betrayal, _sadness_ , that keeps him at a distance. He wipes at his eyes as Joshua sets the tray on the table in front of him, and sits on the couch opposite him. He steals a glance at his face, but it’s unreadable as ever.

Neither of them say anything, for an unbearable stretch of time, before Neku finally starts to speak.

“Why did you wait all this time?” It’s a simple question, and devoid of all the blame he really _should_ be placing on Joshua, all the hurt. Neku’s thought of this very meeting so many times, but now that he’s actually here, he isn’t sure at all how to talk to him.

Joshua himself takes a delicate sip of his coffee, avoiding answering the question for as long as possible.

“I don’t know.” is what he says, and Neku looks at him incredulously, opening his mouth to retort, before Joshua continues on, smoothly and calmly. “I know that isn’t what you want to hear, and I do wish I could give you a better answer.” A curl is tucked behind his ear, and it dawns on Neku that nervous too. The notion of making the Composer’s fingers tremble would be a real power trip, in any other situation, but it’s difficult to find any enjoyment in it right now. “To tell you the truth, I wasn’t certain how to face you.”

Is Joshua… being _honest_ with him? Neku feels bad, almost, because his first thought is that this must be some sort of trap.

Not bad enough to dismiss the idea entirely, he keeps his guard up, leaning against the couch.

“So you think it’s fine to just leave me like that? To shoot me again, and ignore me for a _year?_ ” He isn’t concealing the bite to his word anymore, but Joshua doesn’t flinch, neatly clasping his hands in his lap.

“Neku…” is all he says, and Neku thinks it’s all he really _can_ say. No amount of apologizing can fix this. If he even apologizes.

“Whatever,” Neku sighs, crossing his arms. “I’ll forgive you. For all of that.” Joshua just stares at him with wide eyes, finger frozen where it was twirling his hair. “But at least tell me _why._ ” The hurt in his voice is still palpable, and Joshua’s eyes shift to the side, as he thinks through his answer.

“... I didn’t know how to face you.” He repeats, elbows on knees, chin in his hands. “I didn’t know how to make things _right_ , so…” A bitter laugh escapes him. “I ran, I suppose.”

Neku eyes him warily, but considering he couldn’t even conceptualize Joshua showing weakness before this, it’s apparent to him that Josh is being honest… which is better than he expected.

He clicks his tongue, leaning forward again.

“... Uh huh. That answers part of it, sure, but why did you do _everything_ else that you did? Still do? Don’t act like you’re not watching, I _know_ all my good luck recently is because of you.” Joshua smiles at that, letting Neku know he’s right without having to say anything.. “... Did you think it would help? Seriously.” He still lacks the bite he should have, the anger, he should be throwing everything back in Joshua’s face, but he’s still sitting here trying to understand him.

Neku watches as Joshua sits silent, a clear struggle going on inside him. Neku knows he’s right, he just knows Joshua doesn’t want to admit it.

So it surprises him when Joshua nods his head, and then keeps his head down, curls obscuring his face.

“At least say yes, asshole.” He says, exasperatedly, getting up so he can walk over to Joshua’s couch. “Stand up.” He says, face unmoving, and when Joshua looks back up at him quizzically, he only repeats himself.

Joshua does stand up, warily, and as he braces himself for a hit that never comes, Neku throws his arms around him, pulling him in close. Joshua’s body tenses up in surprise, as Neku buries his face in his shoulder.

“What are you--” is all Josh can say, genuinely caught off guard, for once.

“You fucking suck,” Neku says, but his grip doesn’t loosen any. “And I should hate you, for everything. But I don’t. I can’t. You’re my partner… My friend, Joshua.”

Joshua, at this point, feels his heart swell with something he can’t say he’s felt in a long time. Is this what it feels like to have someone care for you? Is this what it feels like to _care about someone else?_ He can’t speak, can’t think of anything to say, so he holds him as well, fingers clutching the back of Neku’s shirt as he thinks about how long he’s gone without this.

“You… really don’t know when to quit,” He sighs, but Neku can hear the smile in his voice. A real one, that he wishes he could see from this position. “Thank you.”

Neku shows a genuine smile of his own, pulling back but keeping his hands on Joshua’s shoulders.

“You don’t have to _thank_ me, for god’s sake,” and then he pulls back, putting his hands in his pockets. “If you really wanna thank me, though, come and see everyone else too.”

“I don’t know about that,” Josh responds, hand coming to obscure his mouth. “I’d rather spend some quality time with you--”

“Don’t.” Neku says, mouth a flat line. “They all have questions for you too. No weaseling out.”

Josh huffs, trying to think of another way out, and when he fails, he just shrugs.

“Fine. I suppose it is only fair…” Neku claps him on the shoulder, with enough force Joshua stumbles a bit. He can’t tell if he’s been hanging around Beat too much, or if Joshua really is that thrown off his game.

“Hachiko, I presume.” Joshua says, after he’s straightened himself back up. “That is your designated meeting place, right?”

“Course,” Neku replies, fishing out his cellphone and holding it up. “You know how to contact me, right? You get a week before I come back.”

Joshua giggles, and it hits Neku exactly how much he missed that sound.

“Of course, partner. But isn’t it getting late?” The world around Neku starts to swirl, and he realizes Joshua is kicking him out.

“Wait--” he says, and he sticks his hand out, but he can’t connect.

“I’ll be in touch,” is the last thing he hears, before he finds himself back in his rom, sitting in his chair, like none of this had even _happened._

He twirls it in his hand, and smiles.

Maybe there is hope for Joshua, after all.


End file.
